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Co-occurring Mental Health Disorders

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Treating Adolescent Substance Use

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Abstract

Substance use often has a significant overlap with psychiatric diagnoses such as major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and bipolar disorder (BD). Many of these psychiatric conditions commonly go undiagnosed and untreated because of active substance use, which can complicate the clinical picture, mask underlying symptoms, and redirect the focus of clinical interventions. However, co-occurring mental health disorders can have a detrimental effect by increasing the severity of problematic substance use. Conversely, the use of substances can further exacerbate psychiatric symptoms, highlighting the importance for accurate and timely identification of co-occurring psychiatric conditions in adolescents with substance use.

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Recommended Reading

  • Brewer S, Godley MD, Hulvershorn LA. Treating mental health and substance use disorders in adolescents: what is on the menu? Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2017;19(1):5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hussong AM, Ennett ST, Cox MJ, Haroon M. A systematic review of the unique prospective association of negative affect symptoms and adolescent substance use controlling for externalizing symptoms. Psychol Addict Behav. 2017;31(2):137–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Priester MA, Browne T, Iachini A, Clone S, DeHart D, Seay KD. Treatment access barriers and disparities among individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders: an integrative literature review. J Subst Abus Treat. 2016;61:47–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welsh JW, Knight JR, Hou SS-Y, Malowney M, Schram P, Sherritt L, et al. Association between substance use diagnoses and psychiatric disorders in an adolescent and young adult clinic-based population. J Adolesc Health. 2017;60(6):648–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Valeria Tretyak

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Valeria Tretyak

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Justine W. Welsh

Authors
  1. Valeria Tretyak
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  2. Justine W. Welsh
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Correspondence to Justine W. Welsh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Justine W. Welsh

  2. Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Scott E. Hadland

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Tretyak, V., Welsh, J.W. (2019). Co-occurring Mental Health Disorders. In: Welsh, J., Hadland, S. (eds) Treating Adolescent Substance Use. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01893-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01893-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01892-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01893-1

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